Wave Power in Scotland
The development of the first subsea commercial wave farm by a Scottish company took another important step forward today (Tuesday February 20th 2007) with news that Scottish wave energy company, AWS Ocean Energy Ltd. based in Alness, Ross-shire, has secured £2.128 million funding from the Scottish Executive. The funds will be used to develop and commercialise AWS’ Archimedes Wave Swing, one of the few proven technologies worldwide for generating clean, renewable electricity from the ocean’s waves. The support for AWS is part of a £13 million support package for Scottish marine energy developers funded by the Scottish Executive, which aims to establish Scotland as a world leader in marine energy.
The Archimedes Wave Swing is submerged at least six metres below the sea surface which, as well as removing visual impact and hazards to shipping, avoids high storm impacts. Compared to most other wave energy devices, the Wave Swing also takes up a proportionately smaller area of the sea, in relation to power generated. Following a successful pilot project in Portugal, the £2.128 million will be used to develop a pre-commercial model of the device at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.
AWS believes that this work will lead directly to the construction of the first mini wave farm of Archimedes units in Scottish waters, by the third quarter of 2010, expanding within 12 months to 20 units. Contract discussions for this are already underway with a leading utility. Invisible from the surface, the Archimedes device is a cylinder shaped buoy, moored to the seabed. Passing waves move an air filled upper casing against a lower fixed cylinder, with the up and down movement converted into electricity. With a low environmental impact and high power density, Archimedes can survive the most violent storms and downtime is minimised through maintenance at sea.
Rigorous testing at EMEC will help AWS build a greater understanding of the device’s performance in an extensive range of conditions, with an emphasis on demonstrating long term survivability and reliable power generation. Around 25 metres high and 12 metres in diameter, the commercial units will be rated at 1 Megawatt generating around 3,000 Megawatt hours of electricity in a typical year. That is similar to one large wind turbine and equivalent to the electricity demands of around 300 homes. The main early markets for Archimedes will be Scotland, Portugal and Spain.
News of the Scottish Executive award caps a tremendous year for AWS. In April 2006, the company secured £2 million investment from RAB Capital, a London based hedge fund, allowing expansion up to the current headcount of eight at its base in Alness, Ross-shire. Significant development of the technology has been achieved and, more recently, AWS announced the appointment of four highly experienced non-executive directors to support the company’s on-going growth.
Simon Grey, chief executive, AWS Ocean Energy Ltd. said, “This very welcome funding support from the Scottish Executive provides the essential next step in the development of our technology, in order to open the door to subsequent commercial sales. There is a real sense of momentum building now with the Archimedes device, it is selected consistently as one of the world leading technologies in its sector and we are very confident that its future commercial exploitation will help establish Scotland as a global leader in marine energy.”
Paul Taylor
- Taylor Keogh Communications
- T: 020 8487 8288 / M: 07966 782611
- E: paul@taylorkeogh.com
- W: www.taylorkeogh.com
See also: www.awsocean.com
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April 17th, 2007
I would like to see an upgraded comprehensive report on the development of ocean power. It should include results of tests on wave devices such as the Archimedes and Pelamis and also the stationary one being used in Australia to produce both power and fresh water as well as the type which may be submerged completely under water. I would like to see test results for the free flow water turbines both in tidal and in open ocean conditions.
adrianakau@aol.com
May 3rd, 2007
Supposing someone uses wave energy to produce hydrogen from sea water, what then? Is there a market for hydrogen as fuel? All the hydrogen fuel I hear about is from fuel cells. Nobody is talking about just plain hydrogen
Will Moore
Valley Springs, California
January 18th, 2008
I have two questions. Is the energy produced enough so that large companies can use it; esspecially those that are positioned near the ocean? would they find it economical and cost effective? Also, I wanted to ask if you can ell me which parts of the world regularly have the required kinds of waves for this to be an effective power source if they could afford it.
Thankyou.
January 29th, 2008
Are there any countries or areas that are now powered by wave power, if so what are the results? This seems like an excellent source of power for places with high fuel costs if indeed the cost of wave power is not dependant on fossil fuels. This source of power seems to be similar to hydroelectric power in that it would have a large initial investment with a small operating overhead.
March 26th, 2008
Having only researched wave energy technology superficially, I put forward a few comments that i have not seen in the 7 - 10 sites I have reviewed.
“We” do need a diverse, renewable sources of power that will decrease and hopefully, stop our dependancy on fossil fuels.
I have not seen any positive assurance that these buoys will not have any impact on mammals, fish, and cartilagenous fish that migrate and traverse the world’s oceans using their own innate forms of navigation. Electrical sources that have been artificially introduced into oceans have caused trauma and sometimes deaths in mammals and other sea-life.
An independant organization can provide an objective report of what could contribute and/or cause harm to mammals and other sea-life. thank you.
April 6th, 2008
For a very interesting article on new wave power click http://www.wavedragon.net/. This is about a new way to transform the waves energy into electricity. It is still only in prototype phase but it is estimated to be more cost effective then the Pelamis P-750 being used in Portugal and produce a greater amount of electricity. This is most likely going to be the new age of wave power. One Wave Dragon Unit is expected to produce 7 Mega Watts. As of this year Portugal is planning to build a way farm out of it and the estimated amount of electricity that will be produced is 77 M/W. Go to www.youtube.com and type wave dragon and there is a video on it.
June 7th, 2008
I read of this technology a while ago and mentioned it in an article on gather.com (linked but don’t be put off by the title which satirically refers to another technology) The article aroused a lot of interest and a number of people asked for more information.
I’ll post a small follow up with links to this page. You are onto something really good with this.